This wasn't the way the defending Class 5A state champion King High School boys cross country team wanted to begin its title defense.
The Mustangs had little choice in the matter, however, after a determined Carroll team banded together Saturday to place six runners in the top ten to knock off the state-ranked Mustangs and win the Miller Invitational in the season opener for both teams at West Guth Park.
"This (victory) means a lot to us," said Tigers boys coach Richard Ocanas, whose team tallied 29 points to run away from second place King (62 points) at the meet. "King still has a great program, and they'll get better as the season moves on but our guys trained hard all summer and it paid off for us today."
Carroll was led by junior Sean Mohler's (in 16:03.99) second-place finish Saturday.
"We beat King today, but this is just the first meet of the season and we have higher expectations (than this)," Mohler said. "We don't want to stop here."